Transportation truck and vehicle



Feb. 11, 1964 s. H. BINGHAM TRANSPORTATION TRUCK AND VEHICLE OriginalFiled June 30, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 an hm mm mm om mm -1 INVENTOR.SIDNEY H. ameww BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent 9 Claims. 01. 105-21sThis invention relates to light weight powered vehicle trucks of specialapplication for use in railway, freight and passenger cars.

A broad object of the invention is to provide a light weight truck frameassembly with four conventional flanged steel wheels and two additionalpowered rubber tired wheels running on parallel adjacent tracks to thoseon which the flanged wheels run.

Another object of the invention is to provide a proportioned suspensionsystem for distributing the car load ing between the flanged wheels andthe rubber tired wheels.

A further object of the invention is to provide a vehicle powered truckhaving flanged steel wheels to provide guidance and resistance to sideshearing forces in order to take advantage of the established safe andreliable operation with powered rubber tired wheels to take advantage ofhigher tractive and braking force even though, for example, it is foundthat one-half the load is carried by the rubber tired wheels.

Still another advantage of this combination is the availability ofstandard or conventional switching and grade crossing operation.

Still another advantage is to secure lateral stability because of thewider spacing between the rubber tired wheels in reference to theflanged steel wheels, and an advantage highly desirable in modern lightweight cars.

A further advantage is that the truck will negotiate the road curveswithout slip angle for the rubber tired wheels, thereby avoiding dragand wear thereon.

Still another advantage is the increased adherence coefiicient of therubber tired wheels to their rails, the advantage of the crushing forcesfor snow and ice created by the steel wheels, thereby to insure saferunning.

A further advantage of the combination as will appear later is thearrangement wherein the entire load is transferred to the related steelwheels in the event of a tire blow-out when the rubber tired Wheels areof the pneumatic type, and in cases where the car is trailed overconventional railway track.

Another advantage, as will appear later, is in the elimination of bevelor hypoid driving gears in the power transmission system.

Still other advantages are higher reliability and lower maintenance ofthe power transmission system due to the absence of angle gears, as wellas a saving in weight.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No.120,998, filed June 30, 1961.

In the accompanying drawings, FIGURE 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic sideelevational view of a railway car equipped with the novel truck assemblyof this disclosure;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of one of the truckassemblies showing generally a portion of the vehicle body as a brokenfragment;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of the truck assembly of FIGURE 2;and

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the assembly.

Generally speaking, a broad object of this invention is to obtain allthe advantages resulting from the addition to a flanged steel wheelsupported truck assembly for a vehicle, of powered rubber tired drivingwheels, all including a proportioning spring suspension system, wherebythe load on the truck assembly is more or less evenly distributedbetween the steel wheels as a unit and the rubber tired wheels as aunit. Important advantages of this arrangement reside in the fact thatthe guidance and resistance to wide shearing forces provided by flangedsteel wheels are retained in combination with the gain in tractive andbraking power due to the adherence coefficient of rubber. For example,if one-half the normal loading for the truck is transferred to therubber tired wheels, improved tractive effort results from the fact thatthe adherence coefficient of rubber is at least four times higher thanthat of steel. Other and more detailed advantages of the invention willbe apparent to those skilled in the art.

The car of body C, as is diagrammatically illustrated, can be of any oneform common to the transportation industry and any type with respect tothe character of goods or persons to be carried. The truck assemblieswhich are fixed to the underside of the supporting frame of the caradjacent each end thereof are, as shown, provided with two pairs offlanged steel wheels and an intermediate pair of pneumatic tired drivingwheels. To provide trackage for this wheel assemblage, as shown, forexample, in FIGURE 3, a pair of standard steel. rails SR on which theflanged guiding wheels ride. Positioned outside of the steel rails andextending parallel thereto are a pair of wooden rails WR on which thepneumatic tired wheels travel.

The truck assemblies consist of a pair of side frame members 50 and 32which are respectively provided with stub shafts 52a and 56 at theirrespective ends on which the flanged steel wheels 54 and 58 arerotatably mounted respectively. These side frame members can be of anysuitable specific form and may for example as illustrated comprisehollow castings.

The side frame members are cross-connected by struts 6t and 62 which arelongitudinally spaced with respect to the side frame members. Thesestruts are integral parts of generally rectangular frameworks 68 and 70,respectively. As in the case of the frameworks 70, see FIGURE 3, theyare arranged in vertical generally parallel planes, see also FIGURE 4.The struts 60 and 62 of these frameworks are each connected at theirends by ball joint connectors 64 and 66, respectively, which engagedownwardly extending brackets on the side frame members, see FIGURES 2and 3. This connection provides for considerable relative movementbetween the side frame members and the rectangular frameworks whileholding the parts in the generally rectangular relationship, see FIGURE4.

The ends of the top members of the frameworks 68 and 70 are bifurcatedas clearly appears in FIGURE 4, and are respectively connected to theside frame members by means of the links 72 and 74. These links 72 and74 are attached to the side frame members by ball joint connectors 76and 78, which engage upwardly extending brackets on the side framemembers, see for example FIGURES 2 and 3. The other ends of these linksare provided with pins 80 and 82, which have sliding engagement withslots in the bifurcated ends of the upper members of the rectangularframeworks 68 and 70.

The frameworks 68 and 7 0 terminate in ball joint connectors 88 and 98which are secured by the links 9'0 and 100, see FIGURE 4, to a bracket92 depending from and secured to the bottom framework of the car body C.

At the longitudinal centers of the side frame members 50 and '52 areoutwardly projecting stud shafts 102 and 106 on which the rubbertiredwheels 104 and 108 are rotatably mounted.

Supported by means of the brackets 111 and 113 likewise secured to thebottom framework of the car C are a pair of electric drive motors and112. These motors are respectively connected by a power transmissionsystern comprising parallel gears, not shown, enclosed within a suitablehousing 114. The gear train for each motor is independent and the outputgear of each is connected to the rubber tired wheels 104 and 108 bymeans of the drive shafts 116 and 118 which are provided at both endswith suitable universal joint connectors 117 and 119 respectively.

Also mounted on the bottom of the car body frame are the side members120* and 122 for the coiled suspension springs 12 4 and 126,respectively. These springs rest at their respective lower ends on thefixtures 128 and 130 which form part of the turning bearings 132 and 134on the tops of the side frame members 50 and 52.

It is apparent that the truck structure is of a highly articulatednature with all of the parts interconnected by universal or ball jointconnections, so as to provide great flexibility with adequate strengthin What amounts to the truck frame. The guidance and relativepositioning of the parts is maintained by the engagement of the steelflange wheels with the rails SR. As in the previous case, the power isapplied to the rubber tired driving wheels 104 and 108 which ride onspecial outboard tracks WR. One advantage of this arrangement is thesimple parallel gear transmissions centrally mounted. This arrangement,as in the previous case, avoids the use of angle gears such as bevel andhypoid gears.

As can best be appreciated from FIG. 3, it is apparent that if rubbertired wheels are provided with pneumatic tires and if one or more ofthem becomes deflated, the related side frame member can drop a limiteddistance by reason of the slip joints provided in the bifurcated ends ofthe frame members in which the pins 80 and 82 slide. This in effectpermits the load which was being carried by the deflated wheels to betransferred to the related steel wheels. This arrangement isparticularly important when the car is trailed on a conventional track,in which case the outboard rails WR are not present. Under theseconditions the rubber tired wheels even if not deflated, are permittedto drop a short distance determined by the length of the slots in thebifurcated ends of the frame members. Thus the car may be trailed on astandard track system without requiring any alteration or mechanicaladjustment of the truck structure. The fore and aft links 98 and 100give lateral stability to the truck and absorb the longitudinal forcesarising from tractive and braking efforts.

From the above description it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the structure herein disclosed for purposes of illustration canbe modified in detail without destroying the novel structural andfunctional relationship of the combination disclosed.

What is claimed is:

l. A truck for a vehicle body comprising a pair of side frame members,pairs of fore and aft flanged wheels journaled on said frame members inlongitudinally spaced positions, a pair of rubber tired wheels journaledon said side frame members between said steel wheels, crossbracingframes and universal joint means for connecting said cross-bracingframes to said side frames, universal joint links extending fore and aftof said side frame members interconnecting said cross frame members withthe vehicle body, turning bearings mounted on each of said side framemembers and vehicle body supporting springs mounted thereon.

2. In the combination of claim 1, a pair of drive motors and powertransmission means interconnecting said motors respectively with saidrubber tired wheels.

3. A combination as disclosed comprising a vehicle car body and awheeled truck for said body comprising a pair of side frame membersvertically positioned fore and aft, cross-bracing frames connected attheir respective ends to said side frame members with universal jointconnectors, universal joint means for connecting said framesrespectively with the car body, pairs of fore and aft steel wheelsjournaled on said side frame members, and a pair of rubber tired loadsupporting wheels journaled on said side frame members respectively.

4. In the combination of claim 3, a pair of drive motors and powertransmission means including parallel gear trains for interconnectingsaid motors with said rubber tired wheels respectively.

5. In the combination of claim 4, the turning bearings supported on saidside frame members in axial alignment with said rubber tired wheels andsupporting springs interposed between said vehicle body and said turningbearrugs.

6. In the combination of claim 4, said rubber tired wheels havingpneumatic tires, a pair of links connected to the top of said side framemembers in alignment with said cross frame members, and. a slidingconnection between said links and said cross frame members whereby thedownward movement of said rubber tired Wheels when the load carried bysaid rubber tired wheels is shifted to said flanged wheels is limited.

.7. In combination a vehicle chassis and a pair of truck assembliessupporting it at each end, each assembly comprising a pair of sideframes, two pairs of flanged wheels individually journaled on said sideframes respectively, a pair of transverse links pivotally connected attheir ends to said side frames at longitudinally spaced points, a rubbertired wheel journaled on each side frame intermediate each pair of foreand aft flanged wheels and spring suspension means connecting each sideframe to said chassis, whereby each side frame can shift individually ina vertical plane.

8. In the combination of claim 7, pairs of fore and aft drag linksinterconnecting said side frames to said chassis.

9. In the combination of claim 7, means for limiting the pivotalmovement of said side frames.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. A TRUCK FOR A VEHICLE BODY COMPRISING A PAIR OF SIDE FRAME MEMBERS,PAIRS OF FORE AND AFT FLANGED WHEELS JOURNALED ON SAID FRAME MEMBERS INLONGITUDINALLY SPACED POSITIONS, A PAIR OF RUBBER TIRED WHEELS JOURNALEDON SAID SIDE FRAME MEMBERS BETWEEN SAID STEEL WHEELS, CROSSBRACINGFRAMES AND UNIVERSAL JOINT MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAID CROSS-BRACINGFRAMES TO SAID SIDE FRAMES, UNIVERSAL JOINT LINKS EXTENDING FORE AND AFTOF SAID SIDE FRAME MEMBERS INTERCONNECTING SAID CROSS FRAME MEMBERS WITHTHE VEHICLE BODY, TURNING BEARINGS MOUNTED ON EACH OF